


We're Going Home (Towards the Morning Sun)

by ThePancakePenguin



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, Madison Square Garden, Showers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 04:11:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9106150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePancakePenguin/pseuds/ThePancakePenguin
Summary: They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's late but happy 7th birthday self titled

They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. Every moment that you can remember floods into your mind, every hurdle and every tumble. Successes and failures. Everyone you've met, known, loved. It replays in front of you like a fast forwarding movie and abruptly stops at your current moment in time.

Tyler is about seventy-four percent sure he isn't dying right now. In fact, this is probably the most alive he's felt ever. So he can't help but wonder why he's mentally reliving the first time he performed his music at a local coffee shop, sweaty palms tripping over keys, tight vocal chords choking out words, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

He has nowhere near the same mentality at this moment, singing and dancing as Josh drums harder than ever behind him and fans scream and lights flash and smoke blasts.

His heartfelt, sincere speech when their final song began to ring in the arena was bound to trigger some waterworks at least, but he didn't expect anything like this.

All too soon Josh is climbing from his drum riser and coming up next to him.

"Hey man, you good?" He asks with a huge grin.

"Yeah yeah, I'm great," the words come out in a rush. He's still trapped in his head; the Josh in front of him is no longer shirtless and drenched in sweat but clean with fluffy brown hair and wide innocent eyes and introducing himself.

His feet thud onto the concrete of the venue as he walks up to the barrier, the kids screaming things like  _"you saved my life"_ and  _"thank you"_ and  _"oh my god you're amazing"_. The bartender a few meters back gives a quick glance up at him before going back to cleaning the glass in her hands.

He's climbing onto his platform and after a few shaky moments everything starts moving in slow motion. The drumsticks in his hands feel malleable, like clay, and he has to look down at the wooden board to convince himself it's not a cloud. The previously blinding spotlights are now flickering like candles, soft and warm. The only noise he hears is a low humming, a gentle pulse that resonates throughout his entire being. He's alone on his little island, looking out over a sea of blurred faces, like a million copies of the one he sees in the mirror, and he feels at peace.

And then he's turning and he makes eye contact with Josh and he's struck by lightning and he's bringing his stick down and his senses come back to him and his heart is racing and he's clear and lost all at once. They finish the final beats, and the confetti is drifting down around him and the screaming just becomes a wall of noise as he's rolling off the crowd and climbing back on stage.

He's drifting out of his body as he sways in front of  _so many people_ before Josh is wrapping an arm around him and they both bow. They're both laughing now and that's when Tyler hears them

_"Now the night is coming to an end...."_

Josh can tell Tyler's legs are shaking and shouts into his ear _"You sure you're okay?"_ and all Tyler can do is lean on him and half-heartedly yell back _"Yeah,"_ before he's collapsing onto his knees, his head in his hands. The fans are still singing hoarsely and Josh is looking all around, his makeup running. Tyler pushes himself back up and stumbles, light-headed and emotional, and he's pulling Josh closer to him, energy thrumming and  _"wediditwediditwedidit"_ running through his head.

They holds their hands up, showing the symbol he and his friends display with pride, and Tyler takes a deep breath before giving their send off, and he's falling back into his mind as they walk off stage.

Josh lets him stay quiet, exhaustedly leaning on him in the taxi ride to their hotel. He's lost in his own world too, rubbing his raw fingertips together and slowly wiping underneath his eyes. They pay their fee and clamber out dazedly, letting a few crew members take care of getting rooms as they're handed their overnight suitcases.

They're silent from the lobby all the way to their room, Tyler resting his elbows on his thighs from his position on the bed. Josh gazes out the window before kneeling down so his face is level with Tyler. He knocks their sweaty foreheads together, one of his hands tickling the baby hairs on the back of Tyler's still painted neck. He lets his breath ghost over Tyler's lips before mumbling  _"shower?"_ Tyler is nodding along, letting Josh help him up and lead him to the bathroom.

He pulls his shirt off, staring at the tiles as Josh peels the hoodie off of his back. He's still trying to remember how pants work as Josh is getting the water the right temperature. Large hands then circle his dark wrists and help him undo his belt, pulling his pants and boxers down with care but no hint of lust. Josh patiently leads into the luxurious stall and reaches down for the bland three inch bottle of shampoo.

The paint around his neck is running down his chest like ink onto a canvas. His perfect works of art being stained by a careless movement.

 _"We don't make mistakes. We have happy accidents"_ _a_ painter's soothing voice reminds him.

Two differently colored arms wrap around him from behind, bringing a washcloth up and down his torso, turning the paint from a runny mess to unique shading over the valleys of his body. Josh hooks his chin over Tyler's stained shoulder, candy floss hair flopping against his temples.

"You back with me?"

Tyler answers by facing Josh and taking the washcloth from him, finding a clean corner and delicately pressing it to his rosy eyelid. His other eye squints as he smiles. "Good. Thought I lost you for a bit."

"You'll never lose me," Tyler reassures him, wringing out the washcloth hanging it onto one of the hooks on the wall. He wraps his arms around Josh, pressing his nose into his collarbone. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

When they finish washing away the night's endeavors, Josh takes one of the fluffy towels wraps it around Tyler, shushing Tyler's incoming jab to dry himself by tousling his spiky brown hair and pressing his lips to Tyler's cheek. He leads him out of the bathroom and they both get dressed into their night clothes, moving back and forth through the room as they get ready for bed. 

After they've settled under the blankets, Tyler on his back and Josh leaning on his elbow, tracing the boxes on his chest, Tyler finally decides to talk.

"I just can't really wrap my head around it. I mean, we've known about it for months, the tickets sold out in days, but it just kinda seemed like a pipe dream. But we just did it.  _We. Did. It._ I just..."

"I know. And you're right, we both sort of entertained the possibility of something like this, but now that it's actually happened? My brain is fried. I feel like I've forgotten how to do anything but drum."

Tyler hummed, shaking his head lightly. "If you somehow gained the ability to time travel, and went back ten years ago to tell past me that  _this_ " he waved his hand from the skyline outside their window to himself and his partner in bed, squeezing the silver band around Josh’s finger. “I would’ve said you had the wrong guy. I’d probably think I wouldn’t get halfway there.”

Josh trails his hand up Tyler’s neck and cups his face. “Me too. I’m so glad I met you. Not because I’m in a fancy hotel with a handsome man and living my dream, but because I’m not sure I would still _be here_ without you. We need each other.”

Tyler grins and pulls Josh down, pressing their lips together. They kiss lazily for a few minutes; neither of them having the energy to let things get any more heated. Tyler breaks away first when his giddy smiles make it too hard to form him mouth with Josh’s correctly.

“We did it,” he repeats for the final time of the day.

“Yeah,” Josh rolls him over, pressing his chest to Tyler’s back and nuzzling under his ear. “And tomorrow, we’re gonna do it again.”

 


End file.
